Outrageous: ESPN Sat on Molestation Tape Since 2002

So this assistant basketball coach at Syracuse, this guy — Fine is his name, Bernie Fine — has been accused of sexually molesting boys and students for a whole bunch of years. It turns out that ESPN had a tape since 2002 with evidence. ESPN has sat on evidence for nine years because they say they couldn’t corroborate it. On the tape the guy’s wife cops to it, saying she witnessed it and a ball boy admits it. They say they couldn’t corroborate it. I wonder if the coach’s name had been Paterno if ESPN woulda sat on this for nine years. They’re saying they couldn’t corroborate it.

“Syracuse fired assistant coach Bernie Fine Sunday after a 2002 phone recording emerged in which Fine’s wife told his accuser she was well aware that her husband had molested him. The tape had been in ESPN’s possession since former team ball boy Bobby Davis legally recorded it nearly a decade ago, but the network said it didn’t air it until Sunday, it said, because it didn’t have corroboration. Two other men have also come forward to say Fine molested them since Davis first accused Fine. The accusations became public after Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was fired amid allegations he sexually abused young boys.

“Davis made the tape after a brief talk with police in 2002. His allegations, which he brought to ESPN and the Syracuse Post-Standard at the time, created a journalistic conundrum for both: They didn’t know whether to report accusations that could be incredibly damaging to Fine, or to risk not exposing a child molester. Both news outlets opted not to report on the allegations, they said, because they couldn’t find anyone to support Davis’ account. Neither Davis nor ESPN passed on the tape to Syracuse University officials for an internal investigation of Fine in 2005. Syracuse chancellor Nancy Cantor noted in a statement Sunday that university officials did not have the tape at the time.